A stunning 5 million ballots — more than 40 percent of the overall total — were counted after Nov. 6. In many places, Democrats got a significantly larger portion of the late votes than those counted on Election Day.

The Democratic legislature approved changes allowing any mail-in ballot postmarked by Election Day to be counted up to three business days later.

Another provision allows voters to let anyone drop off their absentee ballots, rather than a family member as previously required. That has opened the door to so-called "ballot harvesting" by campaign operatives.